Stages in Spiritual Growth and Development - Case Study Example

Your Full TH575 St Joseph’s College LESSON 7 Understanding Human Development: Religious and Spiritual The purpose of this lesson is to view the intersection between the spiritual elements of the Catholic tradition and secular behavioral sciences and a synthesis of these two worldviews. Garden Model of Development Father Groeschel presents the argument that everyone is planted where God puts him. Hence, everyone is born into a society and a community and as we grow, we evolve under the influence of the community and society around us. This includes the kind of parents, family and social setting that we are born into. And this comes with various gifts, potentials and competencies that we nurture, build and develop. This literally corresponds to where an individual is planted This analogy is compared and linked to the situation whereby an individual gets various forms of revelations about life and God as he goes through different stages in life. Therefore, at every stage, there is a general trend towards finding and appreciating the will of God for his or her life. This culminates in a system through which people tend to develop their competencies and emotions in order to get various levels of perception and sensitivity of God. There were different cases that were evaluated and analyzed by father Groeschel in his articles. These cases showed that God reveals Himself uniquely to different people at the different stages of their lives. This leads to many forms of responses and activities that confirms the level of perception and understanding of God and his power and presence in this world and on humanity. Six Stages of Human Development At every age in the human life, there are fundamental questions a person asks about his or her identity and this leads to a number of pointers and stages in the development of an individual. Individual Understanding of his Personality At this point, an individual gets to understand the life around him or her. This is where consciousness commences and a person gets to begin to understand that there is a wider community in the world around which he lives. Early Years of Life (Up to 6) At this stage, a child is born and does not have the ability to do much. Hence, the child grows with everyone around him or her trying to give him help and assistance (Groeschel 46). This leads to numerous views of life like the critical matters of trust and the core values of life. A child also sets onto the path of independence and the ability to get an identity in the society and the community. These get the child to weave the foundation of religion and values that can be built in his or her life in the future. Childhood and early Adolescence At this stage, the child begins to assert themselves and they get some kind of independent mind which is often divergent to the views of older people (Groeschel 47). Such a situation is one whereby there is the need to connect the independent views formed by the child to divine affairs because that is the only way of ensuring that the child will grow and remain faithful to God and supernatural matters of significance and importance. Late Adolescence and Beginning of Maturity This is the point where people have enhanced energy and they are at a point where they are to make choices and selections in relation to careers and vocations. At this stage, most children are restless and if they are connected to what matters, they are more likely to do what is required of them with skills and zeal. This comes with sexual maturity and arrested intimacy issues. Midlife Maturity and Parenthood (Settling Down) This is where an individual becomes a matured and older person who makes choices and settles down to make a family. This is where a person starts and enters a vocation or career and at this point, an individual sees the world in relation to what he can achieve and how things can be done. At this point, the individual makes choices and settles down to start a family. This is a more like a point where a person stops thinking of himself or herself as an individual and prepares to get a life that is linked and connected to giving to others and selfishness moves to selflessness. Late-Midlife and Old Age At this stage, the interiority of a person grows and he gets to understand more about the world and people. That individual is more smarter and more attuned to deeper realities and at this stage, there is a propensity to build a strong sense of spirituality and meditative lifestyles. Psychology and Spirituality Spiritual knowledge is intertwined with physical knowledge and as we do things and expand our knowledge, we get to know God better (Siena 10). We therefore adapt our normal views of our experiences to the concept of God and we get to understand the spiritual and internalize it and make it a part of our actual lives. Therefore, it can be said that the physical experiences we get also plays a role in our spiritual lives. Thus, insights to behavioral sciences like psychology help us to understand spirituality better. The Catholic tradition and writings present a body of rules and regulations that are relevant to our lives and can be used as the basis for the improvement and enhancement of our lives today. Thus, Father Groeschel presents the psychological and physical circumstances of three people and how this influences their spiritual development. John is struggling and recovering from depression but he realizes that there are major changes around him and can perceive the divine from this point (Groeschel 33). Maria realizes that her experience with God is about transcending herself and giving her all to other people. On the other hand, Liz gets her spiritual experiences through submission to divine providence and God’s supernatural control of things. We do not just become spiritual and accept spirituality without questions. Psychological adjustments include the acceptance of God and His power of the universe. And as we continue to do this, there is a spiritual development that occurs because as our experiences shape our thoughts about things, we begin to recognize and perceive God in various ways and matters and this shapes our conceptions of God and how God affects us. It is worthy to note that psychology has identified that spirituality demands the acceptance of a higher order of things in the world. And this means that we have to accept that there is more to life than just what we have around us. In fact most people grow from adolescence and accept that there is more to life than just achieving our own selfish needs. It requires accepting that there is something higher and we ought to subject ourselves to this higher world and higher universe. The Catholic tradition tends to show that the highest level we could have as a people is to give ourselves to others and also accept divine providence. This is something that most people cannot perceive at an early stage. However, the continuous effort to learn and relearn and apply acts of charity and support for others for a long period of time through our normal human lives leads us to this end. Therefore, it is conclusive that the as we come to know ourselves better and the world around us better, we tend to know God better. This is because spiritual wisdom and ancient wisdoms of the saints are strongly steeped with our everyday lives. However, we close that gap as we begin to experience these theories and ideas and make the connections as we grow in life. The more we grow, the more we begin to accept and understand spirituality. LESSON 8 Stages of Spiritual Growth I PURGATIVE WAY II ILLUMINATIVE WAY III UNITIVE WAY Awakening Fear and Anxiety & Insecurity; Movement from secular to Catholic Selflessness; Social obligations; Imitative of Christ Understanding higher essence of God; Self actualization Focus Moral Integration; Maturity; Faith & Trust Zeal & Presence of God Quiet Ecstacy; Transforming Union Experience Struggles and Moral Ordeals; Trials & Darkness Light; Joy & Peace; Risk of Egoistic acts Total Surrender; Loss of all Defenses Prayer Individualistic; Meditative Contemplative meditative Simple Contemplation; Prayer of Passive Union & Prayer of Full Union Table 1: Stages of the Spiritual Growth Journey I consider all the three stages to be based on the achievement of relevant goals and the internalizing of these goals in the way of life of an individual. It also involves striving to reach the next level by opening up to the elements of the next level. Finally, each stage involves staying away from the unique sins and unique challenges that could make an individual fall from that level of grace that the person might have achieved. Synthesis of Each Stage At the very first stage of the spiritual journey, an individual enters the very foundations of the entire process. And this includes activities and processes that are basic and this involves the change of an individual by challenging his worldview and accepting his moral weaknesses and making Jesus the center of morality (Groeschel 104). At this level, a person will also have to identify his weaknesses and work on reducing them. From there, the individual will have to mature in faith and trust and this means that in cases of fear and anxiety, that individual is has a strong belief in God (Groeschel 119.). This also involves achieving inner peace and stability that allows an individual to get a life strongly rooted in God on the personal level. The second stage involves building some kinds of conscious efforts to bring good into the world and illuminate the world. Thus, the person at this stage does not only think of himself, but of the wider society and his prayer is affective, rather than individual as the case might be in the previous level (Groeschel 139). Moral virtues grows in a person’s life and people are more interested in connecting to God through divine activities and divine processes (Groeschel 142). Moral virtue becomes internalized and it becomes part of a person at this stage’s life. However, the challenge here is about being too self righteous and building an ego that could cause a person to have high and unrealistic standards that could be problematic (Groeschel 155). The unitive way is the third phase, where a person is connected to God and life is more contemplative and the individual experiences quiet and a closer connection to God (Groeschel 161). There is no psychological equivalent as per Father Goeschel. However, from my experience, I think this is similar to self actualization in Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs because a person at this stage is achieving a higher existence and does not have physical needs to complete it. This stage is a point where a person has received the gifts of the Holy Spirit and a clarity of understanding of God and a full union with God that comes with a level of joy and ecstasy (Groeschel 165). This is about a perception and active certitude of God’s presence (Groeschel 179). Finally, there is a system through which there is the transformation of this to a spiritual marriage where there is an experience of the divine in every day affairs and matters (Groeschel 186). St. Teresa of Avila lived in the 1500s and she stated that the prayer is a process where an individual’s awareness at a specific point in time is fixed on God to create a two-way interaction. St. Teresa of Avila taught the idea of the “Inner Castle”. The inner castle refers to a spiritual competency or ability a person had to build and master over a period of life. St. Teresa starts by presenting that spiritual growth is not only about being able to experience God and feel His Presence but also about one’s ability to fix things on the planet that expresses God’s plans for people. And this includes kind deeds that make the world. Better. However, this came with a number of activities that helped people to be achieve this end. St. Teresa taught that mental prayer is an individual’s effort to achieve an intimate relationship with God through the ability to draw into the Grace of God by way of prayer and meditation (St. Teresa of Avila). St. Teresa writes about contemplation as a state where a person reaches in which he or she carries an interaction in which God feels the person’s presence and the person also feels God’s presence at times of spiritual intensity. However, this was only possible after many years of interactions and building one’s competencies and spiritual discernment over many years. The result is that the individual grows and becomes a stronger and better spiritual person. LESSON 9 Ignatian Spirituality and Spiritual Awareness Ignatius of Loyola made several contributions to the Catholic Church which includes amongst other things, the process of refocusing the Church and its leadership on spirituality. His emphasis was on religious piety and deep spiritual activities that were focused on maintaining a strong connection with God. Therefore, the spiritual exercises in the Examen were to get a priest to reconnect and build a kind of spiritual and supernatural bond with God in order to walk in the right direction and achieve the proper goals expected of him. The Examen is a set of prayers that helps a priest to focus on his ministry and also get the right attitudes and ability to do important things that equips the individual spiritually for activities on the field. Therefore, it gets a priest to gain more competency in the spiritual sense and build a stronger connection to God in order to officiate and control the presence of God in a Church service or in a process that requires such activities and procedures. Spiritual direction in the Examen is designed to get a person to do things that relates to what God wants him or her to do, as opposed to the things that a person himself will want to do as a priest. Therefore, there are various prayers that binds the individual to God and Jesus and gets him to become more thoughtful and understanding of the circumstances at hand. The prayers are also designed and processed in order to get a person to become more like a disciple, rather than an egoistic person who seeks to achieve his own end by showing people how powerful he might be. Therefore, the Examen is a tool for humility and preparation to accept God’s divine power to flow through an individual in a spiritual activity or exercise. The model the Examen is such that it is a spiritual exercise and traditionally, priests used to take retreats for a month where they followed the procedures and carried out required activities in order to draw closer to God and gain direction on how to improve and provide their services in the temple of God. Therefore, there is the need for such a retreat for the Examen to be done under the supervision of a spiritual director for several priests who are to carry out their activities according to instructions. The actual prayer itself comes with a number of processes that are meant to get a person to condition himself for greater works on the field. The first aspect is about creating a deeper awareness of God’s presence in our life and this is about creating some kind of a bond or a connection. And this is also done through the formulation of a foundation for mental prayer and this positions a person to work effectively as a disciple in a religious position sanctioned by the Church. Therefore, the prayer is meant to get a priest to build his competencies and spiritual profile and also create a better link and a stronger preparation for work to come. The Examen also helps a priest to build discernment and understand his instincts. This is traditionally seen as putting oneself in a state where he could hear and get directions from God in his religious activities and processes. This is important to help a person to be more useful in spiritual activities and processes. As this is practiced over the years, a priest builds the habit of working with the divine presence comfortably without mistakes and errors. This is done through silence and it to build the feelings of a person. The Examen is to be done daily and this is done by following the formula of preparing one’s mind first (Aschenbrenner). This process is about conditioning a person’s mind and doing things without that sense of urgency and the desire to finish quickly and get out of the premises. It is about relaxing and preparing to receive from the divine. When a person is prepared, there is thanksgiving and the show of appreciation to God for everything that an individual has. This is about a prayer that is to thank and acknowledge God for being the Supreme and also acknowledge his Son and the Holy Spirit in order to get in the right frame of mind for the rest of the exercise. The process involves praying for Light and this is done through the prayer for guidance and direction. The Light that is prayed for is to give guidance and direction in order to do what is required of the people and what is expected of the individual as a priest. This process is about getting the Lord to go with you as an individual and show you what is right and what is wrong, to discern between light and darkness and do what is expected of you as an individual. The next stage is an acceptance of the human limitations and vulnerabilities of an individual who is going through the prayers. That individual will have to confess his sins and show remorse. This is about sorrow and remorse for what has been done that was not appropriate nr right. This is modeled on the Priestly sacrifice that was to be made by Aaron before going to the Holy of Holies. This is to get a person to get atonement and become prepared for the activities that lies ahead. After that, the individual goes on to express hope for the future and the opportunity for improvement. This is about humbling oneself and asking for forgiveness and improvement in the field of spiritual activities. Reflection on Experiences with Examen I did practice the Examen for a week. It was to be done at the early hours of the day when the whole place was quiet and no one could see me doing it. Therefore, I spent a lot of time preparing and appreciating the quietness at that hour. This gave me an inner sense of joy and preparedness. After that, I sang undertone and did some thanksgiving and recited some prayers of thanksgiving that were necessary. This gave me the right mood and the right attitude to continue with the rest. The next steps included preparing my spirit and soul for what was to come next and this was done through silent prayers and silent connections. The asking for light and direction involved a long prayer that I said undertone and this always felt a bit deeper and I could sense the emotions that I was feeling more saturated with something supernatural. Then I was able to confess my sins and ask for forgiveness. At that hour, such activities were sober and some of the deeper challenges I have were difficult and challenging and I wept intensely at some points and in some situations. When I was done with the forgiveness stage, I asked for direction and guidance in the activities I hand. I prayed for guidance and light in what I was to do during the day. After that, I prayed for guidance and direction in the activities that were to be carried out over a longer time horizon and I felt I was getting the right connection I needed. In the first three days, the feeling was so uplifting. I had a very organized time and things were so straightforward in my way. I could sense things that I had not sensed and I felt more of a higher individual in a higher spiritual spectrum. However, after three days, some aspects got somewhat mundane and the prayers were no as intensive and as heartfelt as it was in the earlier days. I could sense an air of lowness in morale and other challenges. As some aspects got less intensive, some aspects of my life like forgiveness and thanksgiving took a different dimension and I was doing it more frequently and much more regularly than normal. When the seven days were over, I felt a spiritual renewal and wanted to continue it all the time. This was a major change in my spiritual level and I could feel that I was beginning to discern things better than I did previously. Works Cited Aschenbrenner, George. Examen. 2014. http://www.diocese.cc/upload/images/originals/Examens070510A.pdf. 2 March 2015. Groeschel, Benedict. Spiritual Passages: The Psychology of Spiritual Development. New York: Crossroads, 2008. Print. Siena, Catherine of. The Dialogue. Trans. Suzanne Noffke. New York: Paulist Press, 1980. Print. Read More